Deep in the Denver Post newspaper, FOX31 found a hidden treasure. An advertisement from The World Reserve Monetary Exchange promised “free silver coins.”

The ad from the private company shows armed guards protecting “the overstuffed vault bags that everyone is trying to get.” The World Reserve ad promises that not only do you get a free “Silver Liberty coin,” but 100 other “scarce” and “highly collectible” coins dating back to the 1800’s.

Chief numismatist for The World Reserve, Timothy Shissler, said, “Any one of these vault bags would be worth a small fortune.”

FOX31’s Investigative Team called the toll free number and was told the free silver coin is not exactly free. We would first have to buy the vault bag of coins for $138, but since the ad said the bag was “loaded with a small fortune” we took the bait.

We asked Rocky Mountain Coin’s Klaus Degler to add up what the bag of coins is worth.

“What we see here is pretty much change. You have maybe between 30 and 40 dollars in value.” Degler said. The long-time coin collector added, “This basically is border line fraud. It’s a scam.”

FOX31 Denver’s Heidi Hemmat wanted some answers from The World Reserve Monetary Exchange. A representative said, “No, we are not ripping people off.” And that “once you open the bag returns are void.”